By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — A computer disk that went missing from the Department of Administration (DOA) on March 13 contains the Social Security numbers of and other information about nearly 1,400 people, the department announced Friday.

The disc was being used to transfer information from one computer server to another, a DOA staffer said, and contained information about people who have been recently hired or applied for jobs with the state as well as spreadsheets used to calculate payroll data.
“We don’t believe it was stolen, we believe it was misplaced,” DOA Deputy Payroll Administrator Melanie Marcaccio said Friday. “There is no indication that there has been any fraudulent activity.”
The State Police have been called in to work with DOA information technology staff to try to find the disk — or find out what happened to it.
The 1,393 people whose information was on the disk were contacted by mail this week.
The March 20 letter suggests they “take precautions to protect against possible misuse or identity theft — we recommend that you immediately place a fraud alert on your credit file. A fraud alert tells creditors to contact you before they open any new accounts or change your existing accounts.”
The letter also provides information about how to put a fraud alert on a credit file.
“While we have absolutely no information to indicate that your information has or will be misused,” recipients were told, “it is important that you be informed of this potential disclosure.”
Executive director Stephen Johnston issued a press release Friday saying, “We deeply regret any inconvenience or concern that this incident has caused affected individuals.
“Once we decided it was unlikely we would be able to locate the missing computer disk, we wanted to inform the individuals directly by mail and also through the media so they could take the proper precautions.”
“We are committed to maintaining the privacy of individuals’ information,” Johnston added, “and will continue to modify our protocols to enhance the security of sensitive information.”